Fraction Action

The Firsties love any activity that involves food.  I think that is why I was meant to be their teacher.  We kicked off our fraction unit by dividing lots of items into 1/2 and 1/4.  We cut and folded paper shapes, divided groups of counters, paper clips, etc.  The best part, though, was dividing the graham crackers.  When we complete this kind of activity, we get to eat our projects!  That is always fun!

I do believe we had some fun this day.  The faces of my Firsties do not seem to show that.  However, I assure you no Firsties were harmed in the completion of this lesson.

Twas' the Week Before Christmas...

All through our classroom, we were learning, stirring, eating, and wearing pajamas!  Our pizza party was a hit.  Thanks to Sugar Feats Bakery for the awesome Grinch Cake.  It was delicious!!

 We didn't want to cut it!  It was just too pretty.  Everything was edible, even the trees!  We were very "Grinchy" all day, but as soon as this cake was cut, our hearts grew three times!  Isn't that amazing?

The next day was our Polar Express/Pajama Day.  Ms. Fogt and I love any excuse to get silly, so we went all out and wore matching pajamas.  The Firsties wore some of their very best jammies to help us celebrate.  What a great day!  We enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate, a book, and a movie.  

No photo op is complete without the "Duck Lips" shot!

Animal Habitats

In November, we learned about animal habitats in science.  For a fun twist, we took all that we knew and created some animal habitat murals.  This was a lesson in teamwork as we had to share our ideas and decide what each team member would draw!

Working together to include the animals and plants found in the wetlands.

Look at these very serious artists

Pirate Night!

Back in October, we hosted the first grade boys for our First Annual Pirate Night.  What a great time we had!  The boys created their pirate hats, put on their tattoos and mustaches, and looked for treasure!  They were loud, rowdy, and the best pirates North End has ever seen!

Creating our pirate hats...

 Thank you to all the parents who sent in our snacks.  The boys had such a great time.  Our ladies will be having a spa night as soon as the weather decides to cooperate.

Terrifying!!

Arrrrrrrggggghhhhh!

Can We Do S'More of This Writing?

As we have been concentrating on sequencing in reading and writing, I thought a great way to put this into practice was through some writing about "How to Make S'Mores".  We started the week off with a group writing about the steps need to make a yummy s'more.  Ms. Fogt and I decided to use the directions given by our students to make this delicious treat.  Needless to say, I tried to eat a cardboard box.  Our directions needed a little tweaking.  We fixed up our writing and each student received a S'More Kit.

After reading through our edited directions, the Firsties made their chewy, gooey, yummy treats!  Granted, there was no fire to toast the marshmallow, but that didn't seem to stop us from enjoying the s'mores.

Fall Has Arrived!

Fall is the best season for school!  We have learned about the procedures and rules, guided reading is in full swing, and there are so many fun things to learn.  This week, we have been focusing on sequence of events.  What a better way to show what we learned than create a pumpkin life cycle craft?  Our Firsties had a fabulous time painting and creating the parts of the pumpkin's life.  This went along with the beautifully illustrated book Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jamie Titherington.

From a seed, to a sprout, to a plant, to a flower, and finally....a pumpkin!

Love those smiles!

The concentration in these faces!

When I see these faces, I know I am the luckiest person to have this job!

Tally Marks!

We have been working hard to review our Kindergarten math concepts.  Right now, the kiddos are working on representing numbers in several ways.  We have talked about showing a number using pictures, number words, addition and subtraction sentences, and tally marks.  To help us remember how to draw and read tally marks, we learned this chant:

1,2,3,4, number 5 shuts the door!
6,7,8,9, number 10 draws the line!

Here we are hard at work, using craft sticks to represent numbers in tally marks.

Along with this skill, we are practicing counting by 2's, 5's and 10's.  Be sure to let your Firstie show off their counting skills at home!  They have been working hard.